Niners draft history-1985

With the 16th pick in the 1985 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers selected a wide receiver named Jerry Rice, out of little-known Mississippi Valley State University. Rice, coming from a small school had made a name for himself with a record-breaking 1984 season. He opened the eyes of scouts from the NFL, especially those from the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, San Diego Chargers, Indianapolis Colts, and of course the 49ers. With that in mind, and Bill Walsh not wanting to pass up on what would be a great talent, the 49ers packaged its first two picks and a third round pick to the New England Patriots so that they could select Rice with the 16th pick, right ahead of the Cowboys at 17. Talk about genius. As they say, the rest would be history. Jerry Rice is by far the greatest receiver that has ever played the game. Bar none. Every receiver in the game today wants to be the next Jerry Rice. In fact, even though I did not have a chance to see Jerry play with the 49ers, he is the sole reason why I started cheering for that team. As a youngster, I always wished that one day I would grow up to be Jerry Rice. Rice broke all kinds of records in his 21 seasons in the NFL. They say records are meant to be broken, but there is an exception for Rice’s. Rice amassed an astounding 1,549 receptions for 22,895 receiving yards, and 208 touchdowns. To put this into perspective, Rice has 447 receptions, 7,961 yards and 65 more receiving touchdowns than the guys trailing him in each of those categories. Those numbers are good in their own right. He was a 13-time Pro-Bowl selection, 11-time First Team All-Pro, and 3 times Super Bowl champion. Rice has the record for having the most records; somewhere in the hundreds. In today’s NFL, I would be damned if a player breaks Jerry’s records. Jerry will be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August 2010.